In designing a typical optical system, the various optical components must be aligned to each other with positional tolerances on the order of sub-micrometers. Conventional systems use adjustable mounts that allow the position of the optical component to be adjusted after the component has been mounted to the optical bench. Unfortunately, such optical mounts are typically quite large and, due to their mechanical complexity, relatively expensive. Furthermore, once the optical component has been correctly located, it is typically difficult to lock the component into place, thereby preventing undesired component movement.
A variety of systems have been designed to precision align and bond optical components. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,842 discloses a method of mounting the lasant material in a laser ring resonator. As disclosed, the lasant material is first mounted to a thermally conductive block using an optical adhesive. The conductive block is soldered to the face of a heater, the heater bonded to a thermally insulative support structure. In order to optically align the lasant material, the heater raises the temperature of the solder to its softening point, allowing the position of the lasant material to be changed prior to the resolidification of the solder. The heater also can be used to maintain the lasant material at an elevated temperature, thus allowing the output wavelength of the laser to be thermally tuned.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,569 discloses a method of sequentially aligning optical fibers in a multi-fiber optoelectronic package. As disclosed, each fiber is individually mounted within a fiber block, the fiber blocks being soldered to a carrier platform. During alignment, the temperature of the carrier is sufficiently raised to cause the solder to soften. Once softened, the first fiber block and its captured fiber are optically aligned. After the first fiber block is aligned, the solder underlying the aligned fiber block is cooled past its solidification point with a thermoelectric cooler mounted underneath the carrier. By positioning thermoelectric coolers under each fiber block mounting location, the solder underlying each fiber block may be individually solidified, thus allowing the fibers to be selectively coupled and uncoupled from the carrier platform.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,409 discloses a low cost resonator assembly that is relatively easy to align and assemble. The system utilizes UV transparent mirror mounts. Mirrors are bonded to the mounts and the mounts are bonded to a support plate using a UV curable adhesive. Until the adhesive is subjected to UV radiation it remains viscous, thus allowing the mirrors as well as the mirror mounts to be continually adjusted until they are properly aligned. Once aligned, UV radiation is directed through the support plate to bond the mirror mounts and through the mirror mounts to bond the mirrors in place.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,539 discloses a compact solid state laser system that includes a laser diode pump, a laser gain medium, and various optical components. The diode pump and the laser gain medium each have individually controllable thermoelectric coolers that can be used to align and thermally tune the components. The optical platform that supports these components as well as the remaining laser system optical components is made of a thermally conductive, electrically non-conductive material that exhibits low thermal expansion. The bottom surface of the platform includes a plurality of individually controllable resistive heaters, the heaters being positioned immediately below solder pads on the top surface of the platform. The optical components of the laser system are positioned on the individual solder pads. Through the independent activation of the heater pads, individual components may be optically aligned and then soldered into place.
Although a variety of optical mounts have been designed, primarily for use with miniature optical components, an optical mount that can be used to easily and semi-permanently mount an optical component to an optical bench is desired.